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 Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:20 pm
The memories that had been untainted and revealed to Rahima by the Goddess of Purity herself weren't the full picture. Whoever had taken them in the first place had cursed and concealed too well...she didn't know for instance who that nameless and faceless evil was, and what she'd done to warrant such a punishment. Without those memories, her heart couldn't remember how she'd felt. The father Sulaiman she barely recalled and so her heart didn't break for him.Glimpses alone weren't enough. Her third mate probably deserved much more and Rahima did feel some guilt. Just the regret of not knowing.
But mostly her heart broke for Jinamizi.
Now she could remember carrying the single cub to term, her birth, her naming. The smile that made the pink marks below her eyes shorten. Taking her out to show her the zebra herds, chuckling as she played a friendly game of tag with a young colt. Telling her off for not chewing her meat enough and washing behind her pink ears before bedtime. Watching as she played with Sulaiman - the memory of him distorted and blurred but Jina clear as an undisturbed pool. A thousand thousand details and images and scents and sounds came back to her of her lost daughter. Rain on her black fur. Sharp little teeth at her belly, seeking milk. The smell of warm, sleepy cub. The weight of her carried in Rahima's mouth. Tiny, sweet little paws...
Oh yes, her heart broke for Jinamizi.
And for herself. She'd missed out raising Jina, beyond that pitifully short time they'd had before something had stolen Rahima's memories away, taken her away from her family. But worse was the idea that Jina probably thought that her mother had abandoned them. Maybe that Rahima hadn't loved her. Or that she'd been killed perhaps. Rahima knew how awful it was to grow up without a mother and the only comfort she had that this mysterious Sulaiman would have looked after their precious, precious little girl.
It'd been lucky that Akamu had been so understanding and that he had his own quest to find Ulamali to occupy him. He'd always known Rahima wanted to find her older children, so it wasn't a problem that she had to go find Jinamizi if she could. And being only one moon-cycle into her pregnancy, she was strong and fit enough to make one sweep of the land before her kittens arrived. Once they were born she'd have to wait a long while until she could search again.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:22 pm
Ewan, was still somewhat confused and a bit of a mess, but his seperation from Dumu was actually helping him. It was like a breath of fresh air, freedom from the drag of days spent with a sulky compnaion and an uncooperative heart. The liberty of simply living for himself for a while was heling his soul and heart and mind as well as the spear wound in his body.He'd sleep and rested, feasted after a hunt with soem random fellow rogues, bathed in a waterhole, basked in the sun...simple pleasures while he sorted himself out.
Now, lets get one thing straight. Or rather, not straight.
Ewansiha was and is head over heels in love with Yadumugandama.
There were many problems Ewan could see in this - and it wasn't that Dumu was another male per se. It was this - He was older and more experianced than Dumu, and had been in a position of trust ever since rescuing him from that god-awful wolf. Teacher, elder companion and guide. He was worried he'd influenced and coaxed Dumu into a relationship...so that he'd been pushed into love rather than falling by himself. And Dumu had been vulnerable, just coming out of an abusive home and unable to look after himself. Needy. Ewan was concerned that it was that need that might have started him loving him and he, Ewan, was taking advantage of him. To serve his own needs, because Ewan hadn't been getting lonely just flirting with random strangers on the road?
These were all valid reasons why he'd freaked out when Dumu had wanted to rush into an adult relationship with him. Until they were both healed and whole, Ewan wouldn't persue the romance, and so things had become bitter and stale. He'd snapped at everything, becoming grouchy under the pressure and tension. Dumu had been upset and they'd both agreed to take this holiday and spend time apart after the incedent with the humans. Both knew that the other was so dear to the other that they'd gladly die to save them - the threat from the human hunters had proven that - so a few moon cycles apart wouldn't destroy their love nesscarily. Strengthen, renew and purify it perhaps or break it apart and expose it as just a strong friendship that had gone over board. Either way would be better when they met up again.
For now he was content to wander the roguelands, slowly amble along and take things easy until the wound healed on his side.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:26 pm
Rahima was a good mother, but she also knew when to let her children wander when they could look after themselves - save Nyek who chose his own road before he was ready, and had been like changeling from the very start. He'd vanished leaving barely a word and she'd only seen him once or twice, for all the rest of his life. Even as a disgrace she loved him and mourned his death, for mother's a bound to love.The rest Rahima had been happy to let go, knowing they'd inherited her wanderlust and desire to see the world.
Saburi Rahima mourned, as she'd chosen the tricky path of beyond the Firekin lands, travelling through a desert, and knew that her patient and beautiful child wanted to see the other end of Africa. Her first daughter was either dead in the Firekin desert or, Rahima preferred to imagine, living a good life many miles away. Lost, but hopefully the clever girl'd do what her mother had done and make a new life in an entirely new area. May the gods smile upon her, for she was beyond her mother's reach until one day death would unite them all once more.
Nogea and Ewansiha had also grown up well, a strong and handsome pair. From the Mistweaver valley all three had left and had taken different directions. The boys'd outgrown living with their mother when they hit adolesence but whenever Rahima had crossed paths with them, they'd been alright. Nogea had even been courting when she'd last seem him. And Ewan had always had a smile on his face. She was very very proud of them. Though, where the roamed now was a mystery as it'd been a long time since her last check up on her twins...still, she knew their ranges and the kinds of land they both preferred, so hopefully she'd find one or both.
Top priority however was Jina. Unfortunately, she'd be the most elusive. Like Sulaiman, beyond a den and a stretch of land and a waterhole, the place she'd had Jina was hazy and indistinct. There were a thousand places that den could be. And Rahima hadn't got to know Jina as she had her elder children, for as a cub, she'd yet to choose her preferences for territory and clime. She'd still be a loveable, playful ball of fur, just starting to eat meat and wanting to spend every day exploring. No clues there for tracking her down.
If she even still lived. And what if Rahima did find her? What if she didn't want Rahima as well? If she did think Rahima had abandoned her? Hated her for having Ewan and Nogea, and the cubs yet unborn in her belly? She might have grown up a dangerous and angry creature, or she might not care at all...
But how could Rahima not look for her? It was unthinkable!
So she parted ways with her beloved and turned away from the sea that she adored. Her interests lay in land once more, so into the roguelands went Rahima, with her swollen belly and troubled heart. At least now, her mind was free, thanks to Zimran.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:41 pm
*A week later*
The sun was behind, the wind blowing from ahead, and Ewan was pleased to note that his limp was lessening. He'd probably end up with a small limp for the rest of his life, but it was no way near as pronounced as it had been when the spear wound was fresh. He had covered a good amount of ground today too - he glanced back - and it was past the middle of the day. Very pleasing, very please...
Time to stop for a drink and a bit of a rest, perhaps.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:49 pm
She found the musk by chance. Well, like any lion worth it's salt, she checked all the marks, for instance to tell who was nearby and if any females in heat needed to be avoided and if there was sickness around. But she'd no idea it'd be Ewan's before hand when she delicately sniffed at a patch of grass, face screwed up at the strong smell.
Unlike usual, when she'd be satisfied with a quick analysis, she checked it again. Definitely Ewan! Running as fast as her huge belly would allow - no way was it only one or two cubs this time - she ran into the wind in the way his pug and paw marks led.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 4:59 pm
In the mean time, Ewan had found a waterhole and lay on his stomach to lap up the slightly warm water from the shallows. Thirst quenched, he stood up and stretched. Back arch, tail curling over his back, black bum in the air, claws flesing, straight front legs, and exagerated yawn streeeetched. Then winced at a twinge from his side but over all that had been lovely. Mm, very nice, now for a nap...
But before he had a chance to find a comfortable spot, his ears and head flicked 'round at the sound of a low call. The quiet half-roar that lioness' use to call their young and that travels far for all it's softness. Normally he wouldn't pay such a call heed. However, that call as familular. No cub ever should forget their mother's voice, even when there's no words and they're now full grown.
He started to run downwind. Mother??
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:13 pm
There are no words for such feelings really. Elation, relief, thank-the-gods and pure love - all fall short of describing how it feels to find a son (or for that matter, a mother) after a long period of no contact. But they are the only words we have to try to capture it, so perhap's they'll do.
True tears rolled down the permanant dark red ones as Rahima cried, aware now just how much she'd missed her son and overwhelmed at finding him again. They met in a whirl of red and white and black head on.
"Ewan, Ewan my child, my boy...mind, mind me." She chuckled, nudging him with the flat of her head when he placed a paw around her neck - like a hug - with a bit too much force.
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:19 pm
He'd nudged and nuzzled and groomed the fur of her cheek and scented her soft smell and closed his eyes with happiness. While his mother did likewise, fussing about an errant strand of his mane and exclaiming over his wound and...
"Mind you? Why - I -...mother!" He stopped the rough and joyous meeting to look around at her belly. Well, that floored Ewansiha. His mother was pregnant? And she seemd to fair glow with happiness...
Well...surprised as he was, what could he do but nod? So he did. He nodded as if in understanding but really with approval - since she was obviously loved and well cared for. Stopped playing like a cub and instead rubbed his cheek against hers one last time affectionately before sitting down.
"Congradulations, mum."
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:28 pm
"Thankyou." She held up a paw before he could start interrupting with questions. "And before you ask, his name is Akamu'Hakan, we're very much in love and I'd like for you to meet him. He's a good lion."
Rahima beamed and studied her son while he digested that information. Boy, had her baby grown up handsome! Healthy, very, if you didn't could that strange puncture wound in his side and that was healing. Ewan looked strong, well fed. He kept his white fur as clean as Nyek had, she noted, but the resemblence made her smile. Their faces held some simularities too...their eyes. Same shape, though radically different colours.
"And how have you been, my little love?"
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Posted: Sun Aug 12, 2007 5:35 pm
"So long as you're happy, mama. That's what matters to me."
In turn, he'd been studying his mother. Older, but happier, the skin around her eyes crinkled with happiness and age. Yes, this Akamu must have worked wonders. She'd been quite depressed when they'd last met and he'd been worried for her. Rahima had been getting thin and restless, seemed as if she'd wished for death to hurry up and claim her...far cry from his mother now.
But now it was his turn - his eyes fell to the ground - and his ears flattened sheepishly. "I've been...it's complicated. I think I love someone and it's...hard. We'll have to talk about it in length later. I could use your guidence."
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 1:31 pm
"I need your help with something too...your love isn't here?" She hadn't scented another's smell mixed in with his. As she could tell her son hadn't joined a pride that way, and that he wasn't a father. The scent was just his own.
'Come, let's find somewhere more comfortable, and we'll switch stories, little love." She grinned, placing an emphasis teasingly on the nickname. Her children, her little loves. Ewan wasn't little anymore, at all, and she wasn't going to talk down to him - she'd tell him straight. After they discussed his love life since it was clearly troubling him so.. She led the way to comfortable spot and sat down, grateful to take the weight off her paws.
"Now, tell me, what's wrong?"
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